Someone else's number/info in my SGSIII

[Esoteric68]

I have a brand new SGSIII, it was purchased using my son's upgrade and activated on his account for the requisite 24hours before he switched back to his old phone. I activated it on my account and used it for about a week before swapping out last night to try the Galaxy Nexus.

Tonight I decided to sell the Nexus and return to the SGSIII but when I tried to activate it the Sprint website told me it was already activated. I figured surely this was a mistake but thought since it was, in the past 24hrs, on my account maybe all I had to do was update PRL/profile and go back to using it.

So I did that and it turns out that someone else's phone number and information is in my phone! How could this possibly happen, the phone hasn't left my sight since we got it in the mail. Of course it's too late tonight to call and find the answers. (isn't it already morning in one of their call center locations?)

I've never had this happen, could someone at Sprint have stolen and sold the DEC number to another person? Turns out the number that it's showing is a New York City area code/exchange.

(my apologies if this should've gone in Q&A)

 

[quick99si]

It looks like someone got a hold of your meid and activated it on their account or possibly did an "meid repair" on another phone. In the case of the latter, they may potentially file an insurance claim to get a new GS3 therefore blacklisting yours.

Maybe it's time to find out who activated the phone by following up with the number on your phone; or maybe look into your son's phone for that number (may be a friend of his).

If you haven't already, do NOT make or receive calls on the GS3. Doing so at least once will allow the thief to file a fraudulent insurance claim. Good luck.

 

[Esoteric68]

It looks like someone got a hold of your meid and activated it on their account or possibly did an "meid repair" on another phone. In the case of the latter, they may potentially file an insurance claim to get a new GS3 therefore blacklisting yours.

Maybe it's time to find out who activated the phone by following up with the number on your phone; or maybe look into your son's phone for that number (may be a friend of his).

If you haven't already, do NOT make or receive calls on the GS3. Doing so at least once will allow the thief to file a fraudulent insurance claim. Good luck.

Too late I'm afraid, someone called the phone (a friend of his) however I have my Sprint receipt with the DEC number on it showing that we legally purchased the phone, also a quick check of history will show that I was using the phone up to late Saturday night and then tried to re-activate it tonight, which isn't near enough time for me to have sent the phone from Alabama to New York and gotten it back again.

I'll be at Sprint first thing in the morning with my receipt, box it came in (with shipping info), phone box and phone. Hopefully it can be straightened out before anyone scams Sprint, or me.

 

[House M.D.]

that is kinda suck!

please keep us posted

 

[quick99si]

At this point, I suggest that you not be hesitant to involve law enforcement in the event that Sprint is unable to help.

 

[peanut1596]

That sucks so much. I would hate to have to go through that. I feel for ya eso.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

 

[Esoteric68]

That sucks so much. I would hate to have to go through that. I feel for ya eso.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Thanks Peanut I appreciate it

 

[Esoteric68]

At this point, I suggest that you not be hesitant to involve law enforcement in the event that Sprint is unable to help.

Okay so here's what I learned this morning from Sprint, and btw if you are like me and tend to have a few phones just hanging around not activated on your account you will want to pay close attention.

It took three phone calls to Sprint, the first this morning at 1:45am when I realized what had happened, got left on hold for an hour when the person went home after claiming she was getting her manager on the line to help. Called Sprint again at 7am and they sent me to the fraud department. The guy I spoke to in the fraud department claims it wasn't any attempt at fraud. Apparently the person whose information ended up in my phone had been having trouble with their phone for the past few days, so a Sprint customer rep tried to do a three way swap using a dummy EIN, well guess what dummy he grabbed the EIN from? Yeah, that would be me.

It seems when they are attempting this procedure they just randomly start swapping the last few digits of EINs associated with the same model of phone, in this case the SGSIII, to find one available for use and just happened to land on my number. Now I don't understand the reasons for this procedure, but it sure seems like a major screw up on Sprint's part.

Now magically between 1:40am cst this morning when I spoke to a friend of the person whose information ended up in my phone (she just so happened to call the number last night when I turned the phone on) and told them I'd be calling Sprint's fraud department first thing this morning and 8am when I talked to the fraud department, the EIN had been released, so I don't believe this was an accidental EIN grab at all.

Now I'm wondering if my other two currently de-activated phones are at risk of having their EINs hi-jacked and how to prevent it. I'm not a novice at this, I always keep a de-activated device around as my insurance plan in case I lose or break my current phone. I've never had this happen before and I am not impressed.

So after a fretful night with little sleep the problem has been resolved and the phone is re-activated on my account.

I very much appreciate the comments and advice.

 

[animal7296]

Glad to hear it eso.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

 

[someguyatx]

Wow that really sounds like a bs story. I miss Tmobile and sim cards. I could swap whenever I wanted between my nokia, sony, or blackberry.